Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Lutetia City: Vargeras

Ruben's eyes narrowed right before back at Ghast. "I wouldn't choose this if I could, but I can't avoid it. Even trying not to learn the craft hasn't done me any favors. I'm as sick of it as you are. Maybe more."

Drawing his hand away from the back of his head, he spotted the tiniest droplets of blood. "Nice to know it's not just the church generalizing. Or the necromancers. Looks like everyone likes to pretend everyone else is the bad guy."
 
"Maybe that's 'cause fucking everyone in this shithole of a city are the bad guys," Ghast snorted. "Got your necros fucking with life and death for their own ends, the church cutting the head off of anything that's different, the wolves tearing up the streets for their dick-waving contests... this whole place is fucked."

The ghoul rolled his eyes again and shrugged his shoulders. "But hey, what the fuck do I know, right? I've only personally been fucked by all three."
 
Ruben's eyebrow raised. "Who's the one that killed you?" He asked the pale child. "And who's the one that raised you? Did they take pity or malice on a child?"

Ruben wasn't a hero, but he knew this story. His parents weren't innocent to such crimes, but if he ratted them out, his sister would be subject to unfair judgement as well. Still, he wasn't blind to this injustice. He was sick of being in the middle of it.
 
"Same one for both," Ghast answered with a bitter grin. He wasn't altogether sure why he was answering this kid's questions, but shrugged it off as wanting to justify his disdain. "Guess he needed his corpses fresh, or maybe murdering kids was more fun than graverobbing. Guess we'll never know, 'cause he's in no state to tell us these days." His grin widened briefly with a malicious bent, before quickly falling back into a grimace. "Pity that more people in this city don't get what they deserve."

Not yet, anyway.
 
Ruben watched Gast carefully as he spoke. Death wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone, but some were more bitter than others.

He wondered if that same sicko that murdered this child was anyone he knew. Someone who's dinner party he attended. Someone who dated his sister. That there were so many options sickened him.

"Lutetia City needs a makeover," he replied. He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. "I get this feeling we might get it... Just not the one we want."
 
"Gotta tear the world down to build it up again," Ghast stated with a shrug. "Whatever this latest round of shit is, maybe it'll help that along."

Even he hadn't missed the spate of disappearances and murders, and he certainly hadn't missed the fearful presence passing through the phantom quarter on a semi-regular basis of late. The flood of vampire spawn and the crazy influx of paladins on his turf the previous day had to be a sign of something. Whatever it was, he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.
 
"I suspect whatever is tearing this city down isn't interested in our little hopes, dreams, and vindictive little fantasies," replied Ruben. "What makes you so sure this isn't more than you can handle if you can't even fend off one little necromancer who doesn't know what he's doing, hm?"
 
Ghast's eyes narrowed again. "You think I couldn't kill you if I wanted to?" he asked, his voice a menacing deadpan. "I could have a knife through your throat before your weird magic even had a chance to freak out about it. Don't act all high and mighty to me, brat. I killed the fucker that raised me, and I'll bet he was a damn sight more dangerous a necro than you are. Maybe I don't care how the city gets torn down, or whether what does it gives a shit about me. Maybe I just wanna watch the world that fucked me burn."
 
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Ruben was nervous. More than that, Ruben got angry. "Just because I can't control this power when it's out, doesn't mean it chooses when it freaks out. Ever shake a bottle of soda? You're the one who pops the lid, but you don't get to control what happens when it explodes."

The necromancer put his hands up. "I digress. I'm not here to make enemies. I can tell you, however, that thinking like a violent lich is exactly what that necromancer wanted of you. You're letting him live on of you keep up that agenda. I know because I live among that kind."
 
"Pfft," Ghast scoffed, rolling his eyes angrily. "What that necromancer wanted was to live forever, I was just one more trial in a long series of trial and error. What he wanted of me was to be a fucking proof of concept and then to go back to being dead. Don't try to act like you know what you're talking about, or tell me how I should be living my unlife, because you don't and I don't give a shit what you think."

Something about this kid was getting under Ghast's skin, and riling him up more than he'd like. "Shit, kid, you act like I should pull some religious epiphany crap and just forgive and forget the bastards that killed my little brother and left me a fucking freak of nature! Fuck that!" By the time he finished speaking, Ghast's voice had risen to a yell, but he cut himself off sharply a moment after the last few words had slipped out, scowling angrily. "Uhg, fucking great. You've got me ranting like some angsty teen," he muttered, running a hand through his hair and glaring down into the dirt.
 
This behavior prompted Ruben to stare at Ghast.

Ah, one of those necromancers. As far as Ruben was concerned, they were the cowardly ones. If one decided to delve into necromancy, doing it for immortality was the wrong reason.

"My mistake," he mumbled. "Sorry. About... everything."

He never did speak to an experiment before. He went through strife, but they went through torture.

"You can keep going. If you want. I won't be telling anyone. As far as I'm concerned, burning down most of my kind is only fair."
 
Ghast scoffed bitterly. "Not much more to tell, is there? He died. I died. We came back, I killed the bastard that did it. Then the paladins came, cut us down for being monsters, and burned our bodies. That time, I was the only one that got back up. I don't want your pity, kid. It's not worth shit."

Scowling and shaking his head, Ghast turned away and walked back across to his bag. He pulled the can of spray paint back out and got back to work on the tag. That was distracting, at least.

"Me and the rest of ... us, probably the ones you're picking up on. This city's screwed us all over. We're gonna change it, one day. For now I'm happy with starting some fires and seeing where that gets us."
 
Breathing out a steady stream of smoke, Ruben smiled.

"Maybe I'll help add some fuel," he answered.
 
Ghast glanced back again, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah? And how you gonna do that? No offense, but you look like you ought to be sat in a parlour eating caviarre off a silver spoon, not talking to a dead vandal about fucking shit up for kicks."
 
Ruben laughed hard enough to get into a small coughing fit.

"Doesn't look it, but this city has fucked me over too. I'm a rich kid but I'm just a vindictive little shit as far as my parents are concerned. Any way I can fuck them over is good enough for me. Plus, what's a better insult than an army crawling out of the catacombs?"
 
Ghast's eyes narrowed slightly. "No. No mindless armies. That's the kind of shit your... parents sort pull. I'm not sinking to that, desecrating the dead. If I build an army of the dead it'll be one volunteer at a time, an' they'll all have enough of a brain left to be able to decide they wanna walk away if it comes to it."

He snorted. "Besides, I wouldn't know what to do with an army if I had one. Doubt you would either."
 
As written by Script, Sentry, and Knosis

"He... he was curious about if we were from any packs. Big ones, important ones. I didn't say shit," he told Rowan.

Rowan grew quiet, his thoughts racing through the possibilities. It would be foolish to run from the Caer. It wouldn't matter anyway. Once you were on their radar, they had ways to find you. No, he would have to meet with this vampire, and Rowan preferred it to be on his terms.

The werewolf's jaw clenched. How could he have not heard that the Caer were returning to the city? Still, if the vampire was looking for just the packs, then perhaps the vampire was looking to do business with them. Perhaps, despite the mishap with Jason this evening, this could turn out to be a good thing.

Perhaps, just perhaps, it would guarantee his pack's place in the city and rid him of the hassle.

Rowan released a sigh. "Where the hell is Rachelle.." He growled.

As if on cue, it was at that moment that Rachelle emerged back out of the kebab shop, jogging back over to where Felix and Rowan were waiting. "Sasha's on her way with a van," she stated. "She'll be here in ten."

"Is... is he gonna live?" he asked Rowan. He looked to Rachelle too, hopeful, but torn up inside.

Rowan didn't answer. Jason was his right hand, but even the Alpha had never seen him this bad off. Nor did he care to get sentimental about it. Rachelle shrugged. "If anyone would, it's him," she stated flatly. "Either way, there's not much more we can do for him. Whether he lives depends on whether his regeneration kicks back in before he dies, or not."

"I mean... he's already healing. I think," replied Felix.

"That's good, then." She nodded. "All we can do now is wait."
 
"I have a few ideas," mumbled Reuben. "Nothing I can act on. Not yet. Just... eventually. When the things I pull to life decide they want to listen to me instead of tearing me to pieces." Ruben took a drag on his cigarette. "Plus, I'm not fiddling with any souls. Just the bodies. I don't want to pull any people into this with my own powers. Anyone that gets mowed down, get mowed down by my rage."
 
"Shit ain't right," Ghast muttered, scowling. "Wouldn't want my corpse wandering around doing anyone else's dirty work after I was dead-dead. And not sure I'd trust a hoard of puppet-corpses not to mow down more people than ought to be mowed down." He paused, and gave a humourless snort. "Easy way to give us undead a bad name," he added dryly.

A pause, as he continued working on the tag. By now it was almost finished. "What's your name, anyway?" Ghast asked, finally sparing Ruben another glance.
 
"Ruben," he replied, letting another thin stream of smoke through his lips. "Gesataia family. And... you?" He perked an eyebrow at the undead boy.
 
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